Gathering and loading machine



Dec. 29, 1953 F. B. MILLER GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE Filed Dc. 26, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet l N @##Hwi-.E $1

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Dec. 29, 1953 y F. a. MILLER GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 26, 1952 JNVEgvToR. ,71mg ,f3/12156 BY Dec. 29, 1953 F. B. MILLER GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheetl 5 Filed Dec. 26, 1952 Dec. 29, 1953 F, B, M|L ER 2,664,185

GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE Filed Deo.l 2e, 1952 4 sheets-sheet 4 Patented Dec. 29, 1953 GATHERING AND LOADING `MACHINE Fred B. Miller, Chicago, Ill., assigner to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a cor.-

poration of Illinois Application December 26, 1952, Serial No. 328,018

s claims. l

The 4invention relates generally to machines for gathering and 'loading coal away from the working face of a mine, and relates rparticularly to improvements in a gathering mechanism capable of clearing itself .ofmaterial which 'has become wedged therein.

Modern gathering and Vloading machines are generally characterized by a gathering mechanism arranged to swivel with respect to the main frame of the machine so that the coal may be gathered from .al1 sides of the mine room. In such machines the operator is stationed rather a long distance from the gathering mechanism, the point of operation in some cases being some twelve to fifteen feet therefrom. The presence of dust and the lack of good lighting make it difficult for the operator to see the conditions obtaining at the gathering head, particularly when .it is swivelled to the side away from the operator., and ofttimes the part of the head next adjacent the rib becomes stalled on the solid coal at the rib, but more generally on slate or rock at the bottom of such rib.

Such machines have heretofore been constructed with a single main clutch interposed between the drive motors and the power transmission for all the driven components thereof, with the result that the stalled gathering bead lcauses all the remaining driven mechanisms likewise yto be stalled.

According to the present invention the power takeoff for each gathering -conveyor .is provided with a slip clutch which enabIesOne to Abe stalled without affecting the operation of the other. Such .provision enables thegathering mechanism to operate vat least on an .emergency basis. The clutches are so constructed that one slips .at .a higher torque application than the other, and cases :where the gathering .arms yengage .a large fragment of coal or slate with a conjoint action, which would in the usual case cause stalling .of the ventire mechanism, such fragment can `be conveyed by the remaining operable ,gathering arm until the stalled arm is restarted by the removal -of the stalling torque. Obviously also.,

ferred embodiment of the invention land whatis now considered to be the best mode of practicing the principles thereof. Other embodiments may be suggested to those having the `benefit of the teachings herein, and the scope of the invention is-therefore intended not to be limited by the precise embodiment herein shown, the -scope thereof intended to be limited only by the purview and spirit of the claims subjoined.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view 'of a gathering and `loading machine having embodied therein the improvements according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a power `transmission for the machine shown in Figs. l and V2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken through one of the clutches associated with the power Vtakeoff for the gathering conveyors of the gathering mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the gathering `mechanism shown in Fig. l, to a somewhat enlarged scale, showing the action of the gathering elements thereon in freeing a large fragment of coal or slate which has been engaged in conjoint fashion by the -said gathering elements.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the improvements according to the present vinvention are shown as embodied in a gathering vand loading machine indicated generally by the reference numeral I0. Such a machine includes a main frame II mounted to move upon crawler treads I2. The main frame 'I'I is arranged to support a flight conveyor I3 receiving fragmented material from a gathering mechanism referred to generally by the reference numeral I4, and Varranged to swivel in both horizontal and vertical planes with respect to the main frame II. Lifting cylinders I6 raise and lower the gathering mechanism I4 with respect to the mine floor, and the gathering mechanism where'the gathering head bears against the rib which together describe 4and illustrate a pree.

I4 is arranged to be pivoted about a point of articulation I1 by means of a swinging cylinder I8. As shown lparticularly in Figures l and 2 the `flight conveyor I3 is provided with articulating trough sections whereby the conveyor flights lmay move smoothly past the point of articulation I'I when the gathering mechanism I4 is swivelled in either horizontal direction with respect to the mainframe II.

The machine l0 also includes a discharge boom I9 which may be raised and lowered by lifting cylinders 2| and swung in a substantially horizontal plane by swinging cylinders, not shown.

The machine I0 and the operating mechanism thus far described are controlled from an operators station designated by the characters O. S.

The precise details of construction of the machine thus far described form no part of the present invention, and it is contemplated that the invention be applied to other types of gathering and loading machines having a gathering mechanism similar to that shown and described thus far.

Referring now to Fig. 3 of the drawings, the main frame affords a support for a pair of driving motors 22 mounted on each side thereof. Said motors rotate in opposite directions, and each has a motor shaft 23, the outer ends of which have fast thereto driving sprockets 24 having driving chains 26 trained therearound. The driving chains 26 are also trained around driven sprockets 21 fast on a shaft 28 to supply power to a forward and reverse gear train, indicated generally by the reference numeral 29, to drive in forward or reverse direction crawler drive sprockets 3| and 32 mounted on each side of the machine I and having a drive chain 33 trained therearound.

The inner ends of the motor shafts 23 are provided with driving pinions 34 which drive bevel pinions 36 which turn in opposite directions. A main drive pinion 31 meshes with the bevel drive pinions 36, and is mounted fast upon a hollow drive shaft 38 having a main clutch thereon, which provides clutchingengagement with a main drive shaft 4| nested within the hollow drive shaft 38 and turning therewith.

'Ihe gathering head I4 and the flight conveyor are arranged to be driven in all positions of swiveling movement of the gathering head I4 and in all positions of articulation of the flight conveyor through the medium of a bevel pinion 42 mounted on the main drive shaft 4I and meshl ing with a bevel gear 43 having a turning center on the point of articulation |1. The bevel gear 43 meshes with a bevel pinion 44 fast on a shaft 46 having a driving gear 41 fast thereon. Driving sprockets 48 are fast on the shaft 46 and turn driven sprockets 49 through the medium of sprocket chains trained therearound. Sprockets 49 are fast upon a shaft 52 having a bevel gear 53 meshing with a bevel gear 54 providing power to a chain sprocket 56 of the flight conveyor I3, bevel gear 54 being fast to a shaft 51 having a pinion 58 thereon meshing with a gear 59 mounted on a shaft 6I having the chain drive sprocket 56 fast thereto.

The shaft 52 is connected to drive an orbitally movable conveying means 62 of the gathering mechanism I4. In order to accommodate the up and down swiveling movement of the gathering means |4, the shaft 52 drives the conveying means 62 through the medium of a pair of universal joints 63 and 64 having a slip clutch 66 mounted therebetween which connects a driving shaft 60 connected to the -universal joint 63 and a driven shaft 55 connected to the universal joint 64. Said slip clutch is also arranged to afford movement towards and away from each other of the universal joints 63 and 64 in the raising and lowering of the gathering mechanism I4. Such driving means for the conveying means 62 also includes a. bevel pinion 61 meshing with abevel gear 68 which turns with a drive sprocket 69 of the conveying means 62.

The driving train to the opposite conveying means 62 of the gathering mechanism I4 includes the main driving shaft 46 which drives a gear 10 meshing with the gear 41 to turn sprockets 1| and 12 having a drive chain 13 trained therearound. The sprocket 12 is likewise mounted upon a similar shaft 52 to drive the opposite conveying means 62 through the medium of the universal joints 63 and 64 and the slip clutch 66, bevel pinion 61 and bevel gear 68 being connected to drive the chain drive sprocket 69 thereof.

It will be seen that the power transmission described with reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings enables the gathering mechanism |4 to be pivoted about the point of articulation I1 whilst at the same time driving the flight conveyor I3, the same power transmission simultaneously driving both the oppositely disposed conveying means 62 of the gathering head I4.

Referring now to Fig. 4 of the drawings, each slip clutch 66 includes a generally cylindrical drive housing 16 which is splined internally thereof at 11 to receive externally splined friction plates 18. The housing 16 encloses the driven shaft 65 which is formed as a part of the universal joint 64. The shaft 65 is splined at 65a to an internally spined shaft 15. Said splined shaft 15 supports an externally splined sleeve 19 whichis held to the splined shaft 15 by a key 8|. Friction disks 83 are interleaved with the friction plates 18, and are internally splined to be held to splines 62 of the externally splined sleeve 19.

An end cap 84 is mounted on the splined shaft 15 and is held to the open end of the housing 16 by means of cap screws 86. Recesses 81 are bored equi-angular distances apart on the inside of the end cap 84 to receive cup-like members 92 retaining springs 9| bottomed in recesses 89 ofa pressure plate 88 bearing against the extrememost friction plate 18. The amount of pressure exerted by the springs 9| is adjusted by adjusting screws 93 threaded into the end cap 84 and in alignment with the cup-like members 92, so that the amount of slippage between the pressure disks 83 and the pressure plate 18 may be adjusted as desired.

The end of the splined shaft 15 is fitted with a bearing 94 which is also supported within the housing 16, and the end cap 84 is supported upon a bearing 96 supported upon the splined shaft 15. The bearings 94 and 96 and the friction plates 18 and the friction disks 13 run in a bath of oil, which may be supplied by means of a filler hole 91 closed by a filler plug 98.

Referring now to Fig. 5 of the drawings, each conveying means 62 of the gathering head |4 includes gathering elements 99 which travel in an orbital path therewith. The gathering elements 99 approach each other in their orbital movement and move in the manner as indicated by the arrows shown in Fig. 5 to gather fragmented materia-l and move same to the flight conveyor I3.

In gathering mechanisms of the prior art and under certain conditions of operation, the gathering elements 99 would engage a large fragment of material F, such as draw slate or the like, which is very resistant to crushing, with a conjoint action causing same to be securely. wedged therebetween in such a fashion that the conveying means 62 with their gathering elements 99 could no longer turn. The stalled condition of the gathering elements 99 in such case `would cause the stalling of the entire power transmission shown in Fig. 3. Since the motors 22 in such cases would continue to run, the main clutch 39 would be required to slip in order to prevent burning out of the motors 22. Under such condition of operation the conveying mechanism I3 .would vbe stalled as -rwou1da1sotbefthe gathering mechanism L4gas.previouslydescribed.

-To obviatersuch dincultiesgthe :clutchesti for Leach .of the conveying;means 62 ofzthe gathering mechanism I4 are accordingly designed or adjusted :so Vthat one of said `clutches ywill fslip at 'ahigher `torque than the other. In the lusual case, :the clutch 166 for the left-hand gathering conveyor, rlooking in :a direction toward `-the :mine face, is .designed or :adiusted'to .slipat a 'higher torque than the clutch for the right-hand conveyingrmeans. -By .so doing, itis .possible to cause the left-.hand conveyor, by way vof example, :to continue tol-carry lon the conveying function-.until after the fragment JS' ,has :been moved vaway from the gathering elementfof the right-handgathering `conveyor arranged -to vslip under the vlower torquecondition.

:Under such conditions, where the conveyor 252 would continue to be stalled, as for example, where the left-hand conveyor of the gathering head 'I4 is stalled against the rib R of coal shown in Fig. 5, out of sight of the operator standing at the operators station O. S., :the gathering mecha- -nism would still continue to operate even though on only a partly efficient basis, until such time as the operator can swing the gathering mechanism away from the rib R to free the stalling condition thereof. In the other case where the fragment F is held by a pair of gathering elements 99 with a conjoint action, the fragment F is able to be moved into position past the stalled gathering element 99 with a rolling action by the remaining operable orbitally movable gathering elements, and into position for movement by the flight conveyor i3. Of course, as soon as the gathering element 99 of the stalled conveyor is freed from engagement with the fragment F, the separate conveyors 52 then commence to operate once more in their customary manner.

It will be seen from the description above that there has been provided a novel and useful construction for the gathering mechanism of a material loading and gathering machine, such novel construction enabling the machine to continue to operate until the temporary and localized condition of stalling has been eliminated. Such a construction will, of course, eliminate the lost time incident to stalling of the entire machine While the invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment thereof it is not intended that it be limited by the precise embodiment herein shown and described, nor otherwise than by the terms of the claims here appended.

I claim:

1. In a machine for gathering and loading coal or the like from the working face of a mine, a main frame supporting a gathering mechanism arranged to swivel with respect to said frame, an endless flight conveyor mounted on said frame for conveying material which has been gathered by said gathering mechanism, a pair of endless conveying means mounted on said gathering mechanism having gathering elements carried thereby for moving material to said flight conveyor, a motor including a power transmission for driving said night conveyor and said gathering mechanism, a power takeoff from said power transmission for each of the conveying means of said` gathering mechanism, each of said power takeoffs having a slip clutch connected therein, one of said s'lip clutches being adiusted to slip upon a higher torque than the other, so that when said gathering elements conjointly engage ra lump .of fragmentedmaterialiinfa fashion-.tending to stall :said conveying imeans, .one will continue =to remain operable.

12. In Ya machine {for gathering ,and .loading coal or the like Yfrom the working faceo'f -a mine, a main frame lsupporting a `gathering mechanism arranged toswivel with respect to said frame, Aan endless ,flight conveyor mountedon said yframe for 'conveying material which has been gathered by said gathering mechanism, a pair :of :endless conveying `means Vmounted on said gathering mechanism having gathering elements carried thereby for moving material to `:said flight A'conveyor, aimotorincluding a power ytransmissionifor driving lsaid flight conveyor and said gathering mechanism, a power takeoff from said power transmission yfor each of the conveying meansrof said gathering mechanism, each of said v,power takeoffs 'having torque release `means connected therein, one of said torque Arelease means `beingr adjusted to release at a higher torque than the other, so that'when said gathering elements-con- `iointly engagea lump of fragmented "material in aifashion tendingto stallsaidconveyingmeans, one will continue to remain operable.

3. In a machine for gathering and loading coal or the like from the Working face of a mine, a mainframe supporting a gathering mechanism arranged to swivel with respect to said frame, an endless night conveyor mounted on said frame for conveying material which has been gathered by said gathering mechanism, a pair of endless conveying means mounted on said gathering mechanism having gathering elements carried thereby for moving material to said flight conveyor, a motor including a power transmission for driving said flight conveyor and said gathering mechanism, a power takeoff from said power transmission for each of the conveying means of said gathering mechanism, each of said power takeoffs having a slip clutch connected therein so that when one of said conveying means is stalled, the remaining conveying means will be maintained in operable condition to cooperate with said flight conveyor.

4. In a machine for gathering and loading coal or the like from the working face of a mine, a main frame supporting a gathering mechanism arranged to swivel with respect to said frame, an operators station at one side of said main frame and remote from the said gathering mechanism in a swiveled position thereof so as to be out of a line of sight to said gathering head from said station, an endless flight conveyor mounted on said frame for conveying material which has been gathered by said gathering mechanism, a pair of endless conveying means mounted on said gathering mechanism having gathering elements carried thereby for moving material to said flight conveyor, a motor including a power transmission for driving said night conveyor and said gathering mechanism, a power takeoff from said power transmission for each of the conveying means of said gathering mechanism, each of said power takeoffs having torque release means connected therein so that when one of said conveying means is stalled by engagement thereof with a rib of coal or the like when the gathering head is swiveled to such out of sight position, the remaining conveying means will be maintained in operable condition to cooperate with said flight conveyor.

5. In a machine for gathering and loading coal or the like from the working face of a mine,

a main frame supporting a gathering mechanism arranged to swivel with respect to said frame, an endless flight conveyor mounted on said frame for conveying material which has been gathered by said gathering mechanism, a pair of endless conveying means mounted on said gathering mechanism having gathering elements movable therewith in an orbital path for moving material to said flight conveyor, a motor including a power transmission for driving said flight conveyor and said gathering mechanism, a power takeoff from said power transmission for each of the conveying means of said gathering mechanism, each of said power takeois having a slip clutch connected therein, one of said slip clutches being adjusted to slip upon a higher torque than the other, so that when said gathering elements conjointly engage a lump of fragmented material in a fashion tending to stall the gathering elements of said gathering mechanism, one will continue to remain operable.

6. In a machine for gathering and loading coal or the like from the working face of a mine, a main frame supporting a gathering mechanism arranged to swivel with respect to said frame, an endless flight conveyor mounted on said frame for conveying material which has been gathered by said gathering mechanism, a pair of endless conveying means mounted on said gathering mechanism having gathering elements movable therewith in an orbital path for moving material to said night conveyor, a motor including a power transmission for driving said flight conveyor and said gathering mechanism, a power takeoff from said power transmission for each of the conveying means of said gathering mechanism, each of said power takeoffs having torque release means connected therein, one of said torque release means being adjusted to release at a higher torque than the other, so that when said gathering elements conjointly engage a lump of fragmented material in a fashion tending to stall the gathering elements of said gathering mechanism, one will continue to remain operable.

FRED B. MILLER.

No references cited. 

